Barrow to send delegation to Senegal immediately after Independence celebration to discuss the border crisis

By Assan Sallah

President Adama Barrow will send a high-level delegation to Senegal to discuss the recent border crisis between the two countries at the Amadallai -Karang Border, immediately after Gambia’s 55^th independence celebration.

A top government official who was not authorized to speak about the trip, said: “I can confirm that discussion have been made and the delegation will leave either on Wednesday or Thursday.”

Gambia’s Transport minister Bai Lamin Jobe will lead the delegation to meet his Senegalese counterpart Oumar Youm, before meeting with Senegalese leader Macky Sall.

Recently there has been a standoff at the Amdallai – Karang Border, following the Senegalese drivers’ refusal to allow Gambian buses to enter Senegal.

The Gambia National Transport Union’s president Omar Ceesay has on Monday announced at a press conference held at the Abuko Central Car Park, that beginning from Wednesday, 19^th February 2020, it will not allow any commercial vehicle from Senegal to enter the Gambian territory.

This drastic measure is the consequence of several incidents at the Karang border post where, on several occasions, Senegalese transporters operating in this sector have intercepted buses of the Gambian public transport company. The latest example was last Friday, when a bus from the Gambia Transport Service Company (GTSC) was intercepted and it narrowly escaped being ransacked by the Senegalese drivers and community members of Karang.

For the Senegalese transporters at Karang, only one bus can board from Banjul to Dakar. A position that has been defeated by the Gambian transporters, who reply that there are no restrictions in this regard and that such a measure is a flagrant violation of the principle of free movement of persons and their goods within the ECOWAS area.

In the Gambian transport union’s view, since Senegalese public transport vehicles enter The Gambia without restriction, a principle of reciprocity must be applied between the two countries.

Read more details of the entire border crisis in our subsequent articles…